Love it, applying heat in the form of a chill.
[url="http://www.domain-b.com/economy/worldeconomy/20091210_us_n-firms_oneView.html"]US n-firms feel the New Delhi chill[/url]
[url="http://www.domain-b.com/economy/worldeconomy/20091210_us_n-firms_oneView.html"]US n-firms feel the New Delhi chill[/url]
Quote:10 December 2009
New Delhi: A US nuclear trade mission of around 50 companies, currently doing the rounds in the Indian capital and dropping loud hints of sourcing nuclear engineering products from India, may be feeling the New Delhi chill a bit more harsher than others. With NPT zealots in the Obama administration ensuring that the 123 Agreement takes its time to materialise, New Delhi may have atlast decided to shed some of its forced cordiality to all things American and not rollout the red carpet.
Ostensibly, the delegation has made the trip to try and understand the ''policy challenges'' that stand between them and the Indian market. This would have involved meeting officials in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and assorted ministers in the central government.
An Indian administration that has seen all the bonhomie between the respective governments gradually wither away, even as NPT-hawks and assorted cold war-era warriors begin to assert greater authority within the policy making confines of the US administration, may have decided to splash some cold water on the hype that Americans routinely generate with all their endeavours.
In this case, even as India was signing a path-breaking civil nuclear agreement with Russia, the American companies were painting rainbows in the sky as to how they would outsource a lot of nuclear engineering products from India once they had the contracts in their pockets.
So far, the American delegation has yet to receive appointments with any meaningful entity, either in the prime minister's office or elsewhere in the government. The ostensible reason being trotted out is that the delegation is composed of members who are too 'junior' to be received at higher levels of the government.
It is also being given to understand that the American companies may have landed in New Delhi without the permission of their own government.
[color="#800080"]So far, it's been the US that has been trying to convince India to sign on all the details that American domestic and national interests demand, and has been citing acceptances of such conditions by other countries. It may now well be India's turn to cite its agreement with Russia and see what the arm chair warriors at Foggy Bottoms make of it.[/color]
The [color="#800080"]Indo-Russian agreement moves quite a few policy steps beyond the 123 Agreement, in that Russia will neither stop supplying fuel to nuclear plants in India, and neither will it take back its equipment even if the pact falls through at any stage. India will also have nuclear fuel enrichment and reprocessing rights and shall also be allowed core technology transfer.[/color]
The negotiations with the United States on reprocessing were in the ''last stage'' when the summit meet Barack Obama and Manmohan Singh took place in Washington last month, and the impression created was that it was only the legal text that needed to be finalised. Close onto a month thereafter, no forward movement is yet in evidence.
Russia has already secured Indian acceptance to set up an additional 12-14 reactors in the country. French giant Areva also has approval to start operations in India and may be awaiting a state visit from French president Nicolas Sarkozy to secure a larger order.
The Canadians are also in the running, and a very warm visit to India by Canadian premier, Stephen Harper, has also put it firmly in the running to secure a large contract. Ironically, the people who have made it all possible, the Americans, are the ones who are now getting to feel the chill.